NGE: Reincarnation Rewritten
by Marzee
Summary: A rewritten version of NGE: Reincarnation. It's heaps better now, in my opinion. If you read the previous version read this and form a new opinion. Thanx.


Neon Genesis Evangelion: Reincarnation

A Neon Genesis Evangelion Fanfic written by Marzee for _In Depth Eva_

www.geocities.com/indeptheva/

Disclaimer 

All right, I've written a new disclaimer to go with the reworked fic:

I, Marzee, do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion. If I did I would have made this into an anime and tried to make money out of it. Well, I'm sure that's what Gainax would do anyway. So since I didn't do that I'm not making anything out of this and I'd prefer not to get sued.

All characters belong to Gainax and I didn't ask for permission to write this, nor will I ever. If someone from Gainax is reading this, this is copyrighted by me, and you will need to buy it from me if you want to use it. 

If Gainax asks me to remove this from the net, I'll ask them for a better selection of authorized pics to put on fan sites. J

Warning 

There may be some swearing, sooner or later. If I have no reason to put it in I might do it _because_ _I can_. The power of the keyboard is supreme and none shall challenge it. Insert Evil Laugh Here.  Just kidding, well, not the first sentence.

There will be some graphic violence later on. If you don't like that… ah… whatever. It'll be during the Angel attacks, and there shouldn't be anything major between characters, if anything.

_Notes_

Ok, I've totally rewritten this and it's much better then before. If you read the first two chapters I released and thought they were crap, please read this and make another judgement. I'm sure you'll think it's at least a little better.

I've planned up to Chapter 5 so far, although a few small changes may sneak in. This means that the plot should be far more developed and structured then before. 

Chapter 01

Dealing with the Aftermath

(Version 1.5)

*****

The whiteness of the room was disturbing. The only thing that wasn't predominantly white was the auburn hair of the young girl lying in the hospital bed. Shinji stood beside the bed trying to work out what to say to the comatose Asuka.

The Second Child was lying on her side and facing away from him. The color of her skin had paled slightly and she looked whiter then normal, as if trying to blend in with her surroundings. Machinery beeped around the bed as the tubes and cables attached to the girl fed her and monitored her condition. 

"I'm scared of Misato and Ayanami. No one understands me," the boy moaned quietly.

The Third Child stared down at the girl's face. There was no reaction to his words. The doctors told him that there wouldn't be, but he was hoping that she would just speak to him; even looking at him would be enough. In an effort to wake her, he reached out to touch her.

"Help me…help me, Asuka."

He put his hand on the girl's shoulder and began to rock her back and forth. 

"Please wake up, please," Shinji pleaded, his voice cracking slightly. "Wake up!"

In desperation he began to shake Asuka harder in an effort to wake her up. 

"Asuka! Asuka! Asuka!" 

The boy's voice became loader as tears began to form on the corner of his eyes. 

"Help me! Make a fool of me, the way you always do! _Just speak to me!_"

Shinji began sobbing and what was once a soft rocking began to turn into violent shaking. 

"_Wake up!_" the boy screamed as he yanked the girl toward him.

The girl's body turned toward the ceiling and the monitors attached to her body were ripped away by the boy's violent outburst. 

Shinji stared down at the girl before him. The front of her hospital gown lay open and gave him a full view of her chest. As he stood taking in the view, his tears beginning to slow, he was unable to remove his eyes from her breasts. If she had of been awake she would have given him a black eye or a bright red cheek, maybe both. Now that she was in a coma she didn't react at all. As he realized this, a primal urge began to tug at the corner of his mind. 

He had always thought Asuka was beautiful, easily the best looking girl in the class, if not the entire school. The view of her developed chest caused Shinji to become aroused and he looked down at his pants as they became tighter. Thoughts quickly began to enter his head and he decided had to relieve himself, now. 

He walked over to the door and locked it. When he came back to stand by the side of the bed he unbuckled his belt and started to remove his pants. 

Heavy breathing began to resonate within the room as Shinji sort to relieve himself, never thinking about how wrong it was. After awhile, he reached his limit and he stared in disbelief at his soiled hand. The hopelessness of the situation overwhelmed him and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"I'm pathetic…" 

Shinji barely paused as he pulled up his pants and ran for the nearest bathroom, not even worrying to fix up the girl lying on the bed.

*****

In the dark confines of the meeting room, Gendo Ikari sat at his table in the middle of the twelve SEELE monoliths, unfazed by the dominating formation surrounding him. Standing to his right was Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, who, unlike Gendo, couldn't help but to suppress a shiver that was creeping up his spine. 

"Ikari," SEELE 01 addressed the Commander of NERV. "You are to ready NERV for a new wave of Angels. It would be wise to ensure that those under your command are battle ready."

"You may also want to take NERV headquarters off alert status," SEELE 05 added. 

Gendo maintained his calm persona, but Fuyutsuki was stunned and found himself unable to hide the fact.

_'Ikari had planned to finish it soon. Will this complicate his plans? Will he still be able to complete his goal with more messengers coming? How much does SEELE know about this? How long have they known? Is this just a trick? Do they still plan to attack? And how do they know we are on alert status?'_  

While a million questions found their way into the Sub-Commander's head, Gendo was only concerned with one.

"Has the Human Instrumentality Project been abandoned?"

"Of course not," SEELE 02 replied sternly. "It has merely been delayed until the defeat of this new threat, as it is written in the Dead Sea Scrolls."

Gendo had not expected this. For years he had waited for the moment when he would be reunited with Yui. What he had been reaching for had turned into a mirage. Now he must continue to search the desert for what he desired. It was infuriating, at the very least, and the poker face he always wore threatened to crumble. 

"Expect another fifteen messengers, Ikari," SEELE 05 explained. "According to the Scrolls they should be in the form close to the originals, only more powerful."

"And looking over the status of the Evangelions and their pilots, it would appear that you currently have only one that can be used in combat." SEELE 03 said. "You will need to remedy the situation immediately."

"I'm sure you kept what you could find of the remains of Unit 03," SEELE 02 added. "You have staff with the ability to repair that Evangelion Unit; I suggest you use that ability."

"While this project is being completed, you will be nearly defenseless against an attack with only one Evangelion. Unit 06, which was built to be used in extreme circumstances, is stationed at the Third Branch. This is an extreme circumstance and it will be sent to you, along with a pilot, in the near future."

"I assume this one isn't an Angel," Fuyutsuki mocked.

"_Silence!_" SEELE 02 shouted. "You have not been given permission to speak. Doing so again will be met with retaliation!"

Fuyutsuki could have sworn that he saw Gendo smirk under his hands. 

"That is all, Ikari. Ensure that you do not underestimate this new enemy," SEELE 04 concluded.

All of the monoliths in the room disappeared except for SEELE 01.

"Ikari, remember that even you are replaceable."

The final monolith disappeared and Gendo just stared at the space once occupied by SEELE 01 for several minutes.

"I know."

*****

"Why can't we leave headquarters?" Maya asked, sounding slightly worried.

She was sitting in the Central Command Centre, holding a coffee and talking with Makoto and Shiguru. The question had been echoing around the base for days but nobody seemed to know the official answer. It was beginning to look like there wasn't one.

"We're still on first stage alert," Makoto replied, "we can't leave because the Commander must be expecting an attack."

"But the boy…the fifth child, he was the last one, right?"

"Yes," Shiguru replied, "they've all been destroyed."

"Maybe they're…" Makoto began.

"Take us off first stage alert!"

The three lieutenants turned around to find Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki standing on the command dais. All three of them had looks of surprise on their faces and it took Makoto a few seconds to realize he had been given an order.

"Uh, yes, sir," Makoto replied, swinging around in his chair and typing in the command. 

"I want a message sent to everyone here that the timetable that was in place before the defeat of the seventeenth Angel is back in effect."

Fuyutsuki turned to leave but a question from Maya stoped him.

"What's going on, sir?" confusion etched on her features.

Fuyutsuki frowned and turned to face the young woman.

"Figure it out for yourself," Fuyutsuki replied softly before he turned and began to walk away.

 "The fight isn't over yet!" she whispered to herself.

*****

Misato sat in the Officers Lounge of NERV HQ with her NERV coffee mug in her hands. Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki had just informed her of the new threat. Misato wanted to find out what exactly happened but Fuyutsuki had insisted that she would be informed of everything at a briefing. She would just need to find out for herself because she wasn't prepared to wait for a briefing, especially when it would only contain little, if any, truth.

She meant to go pick up Shinji half an hour ago from Asuka's hospital room but she just didn't have the strength to get up. How could see possibly look into Shinji's eyes and tell him that he was needed to pilot Eva again? What would he do when she told him? 

Misato's imitation family was collapsing in on itself. Shinji had turned inside himself again, Asuka was in a coma, and she was staying at work to avoid the issues surrounding the family break up. They hardly even talked to each other since the fifteenth Angel and they lived in the same house for most of that time. She had failed to be a good guardian. Ritsuko would have laughed at her failure.

Misato lifted the mug to her lips and took a sip of the coffee. She pulled back slightly as the cold liquid hit the back of her throat. She stared at the cup with a blank expression before going over to the sink and washing the contents of the cup out. 

_'Figures, the longer I sit here the worse things get.'_

"On a double shift, Major?" Makoto asked as he walked into the lounge. 

Misato shook her head and a slight frown crept onto her face. Makoto knew her timetable back to front and Fuyutsuki had said that it was back in effect.

"No," she replied blandly.

"Oh," was the only thing that came into Makoto's head. 

He was hoping for an opening for a conversation with the purple haired woman and that went out the window when she walked out of the room without even saying goodbye.

Makoto quickly made his coffee and left for home, slightly miffed that the Major had blown him off like that. Even with Kaji gone he still didn't get noticed. It was always like this. He couldn't see what Misato seen in that scruffy man while he did everything she asked of him. He even picked up her laundry before Shinji started doing it.

Besides his current women troubles, Makoto had a lot of questions on his mind. Like what had happened to make NERV go back to normal operation. Why wasn't the fight over even though they had killed all the Angels? 

*****

"What do you plan to do about Unit 03?" Fuyutsuki asked, as he stood before the Commander and his desk. 

Gendo sat looking at his second in command, his hands joined under his nose. 

"Reconstruct it as the committee requested. It may be needed shall the Angels be more…_powerful_."  

"I see…and how do you plan to accomplish this?" His eyebrows arched as a thought entered his head. "I hope you're not planning on releasing Dr. Akagi."

"No, I have faith in Dr. Ibuki. I'm sure she will be able to handle the project."

"Then she is Dr. Akagi's replacement?"

"Correct!"

"What about our current Units? What do you plan to do about the pilot of Unit 02? I think that replacement is the only option!"

"Have you no heart, Professor?" a smirk was evident in the commander's eyes.

Fuyutsuki eyed his superior suspiciously, _'What the hell is that meant to mean? And what's with that look in your eye?'_

"I learned that from you!" 

"Perhaps, but I have a goal. To reach that goal I need a full combat roster of Evangelions… including Unit 01. That is why she will be allowed to stay. That is also the reason I have let Major Katsuragi play investigator," Gendo explained.

Fuyutsuki nodded slightly, accepting his Gendo's reasoning. It still seemed a bit far-fetched, though. "What are you going to do about her? You can't let her roam free like this!"

"No, next time she _investigates_ she will be asked to report to me."

Fuyutsuki cocked an eyebrow.

"You plan to _remove_ her, perhaps?"

"No, I plan to inform her of how useful she is."

*****

The buildings of suburban Tokyo 3 flew by as Shinji stared aimlessly out the window of Misato's car. She was over half an hour late to pick him up and the extra time allowed him to clean up the…mess he had made. 

"Do you know what happened to her?"

Shinji's eyes widened, but he quickly recovered when he realized that Misato meant why she was in a coma. He moved his head and stared at his hands resting in his lap. 

"No," he replied quietly.

"Do you want to?"

"Is it really that important?" Shinji made sure he didn't look up at the Major. He didn't want to think about Asuka because all it did was remind him of what he just did to her.

Misato looked at her charge out of the corner of her eye, a frown forming on her face.

"Don't you care what happens to her?" There was a touch of sadness in the Major's voice. "She's going to need someone to be there for her when she wakes up. You are the best person to be there for her."

Misato returned her eyes to the road and waited for the boy to reply. Several minutes passed before he did.

"I doubt that…" He said, then mumbled, "and that's if she ever wakes up."

Shinji turned his gaze to the passing buildings again and didn't notice Misato's grip tighten on the wheel. Her knuckles began to turn white under the strain and the women didn't even look in the boy's direction for the rest of the trip, afraid she would shove his head through the window if she did.

When they reached the apartment building, Misato stopped in the car park and turned off the engine. Shinji stepped out and cringed at the sound of the driver's door slamming. He didn't even have time to turn towards the noise before he was grabbed by the shoulder, span around and pinned to the car door. 

The Third Child stared into his guardian's eyes. The anger was unmistakable and assisted by the way her arms shook slightly as she tried to control herself. It wasn't long before he could no longer hold her gaze and he opted to look at the ground instead. A firm grip on his jaw forced him to look at her. 

"You disgust me!" Misato spat. "At the first sign of trouble you run away. Asuka needs you and you are going to abandon her. That's low, Shinji."

"She hates me." He replied in a monotonic, almost Rei-like voice.

"Bullshit. That girl won't give any other boy the time of day, yet everyday she used to walk to and from school with _you_."

"She hates me." He said again in the same voice.

The impact of the slap sent Shinji falling to the ground. He lay against the car dazed as blood slowly began to trickle from the cut on his upper lip. He didn't bother to look up at the woman standing above him. 

"You're pathetic! You only think about yourself. Asuka doesn't hate you but if you leave her alone when she needs you the most, you deserve to be hated," she yelled at the boy before storming off toward the elevator. 

*****

"What did I do to deserve this, Mother?"

No answer was forthcoming, only the silence of the cell, which did little to ease Ritsuko's frustration. Images of her mother kissing Gendo in the Command Center came flowing into her head.

"He used you too, didn't he mother? But I'm sure once your usefulness ran out he would have gotten rid of you," A crooked smile formed on her face. "I wonder if you really jumped…or did he throw you off for killing that little bitch of his?"

Visions of Rei's body broken and bleeding on the ground filled her vision as if they were real. The ecstatic look in her eyes gave her a demon-like appearance and the guard outside the cell backed away slowly as the eyes inside the cell burned with hatred.

"He may have beaten you, Mother, but I still have skills that nobody else has. Until I lose that advantage I'm still needed and he won't kill me."

The guard began to remove his cell phone to give his superiors the information he had just heard. 

"And if given half a chance I'll finish my mother's work and make sure that bitch never replaces me again."

*****

"I don't know what to say, sir," Maya Ibuki said, bowing to her superior. A worried look crossed her face as she rose. "Are you sure I'm the right person for the job? Dr. Akagi was much more talented then me."

Gendo seemed not to have heard the lieutenant's words, as he made no reply for some time. Maya was beginning to panic and began to fidget under his gaze. She had never been to his office before and was quite overwhelmed by the darkness of the room. She nearly jumped when Gendo began to talk again.

"You would not have been chosen if you did not fit the criteria," Gendo went on, "There are three tasks that you must begin to complete. The first is to organize a team to begin regenerating Unit 03. You also need to prepare for the arrival of Unit 06. A cage will need to be prepared within the next week and you will need to be ready to run the next set of synchronization tests when the Sixth Child arrives."

It was at this time that Fuyutsuki walked into the room carrying a videotape in his hand. It was labeled '_Room 303 – 27/11/15_'. The elderly man made a small gesture toward the videotape when he was just behind Maya.

"That is all, Dr. Ibuki," Gendo announced. "I'm sure any questions you have will be answered in the report that will be on your desk by tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir," Maya replied. She then bowed quickly and left the room.

"You brought some entertainment, Professor?" Gendo inquired while raising an eyebrow. 

"You may actually find this interesting."

He handed the tape to Gendo, who placed it into a slot underneath his desk. He then pushed a button and a small screen rose from inside the desk. For the next few minutes Gendo and Fuyutsuki watched what unfolded in Room 303 when Shinji visited the comatose Second Child. After three minutes Gendo pushed a button and the screen disappeared back into the desk. 

"Where is he now?" Gendo asked. 

"At Major Katsuragi's apartment. The Major took him home shortly afterwards."

"Does she know?"

"We are uncertain, although it is unlikely. Perhaps the Third Child is more of a variable then you thought. From the look of that little… episode it would appear that his condition has worsened. What will you do about this?"

"That is all, Professor."

Fuyutsuki made no attempt to hide the frown as he turned and Gendo waited until the older man had left the room before he stood up and walked over to the window. He stood staring out at the Geo Front for sometime.

"This complicates matters." The commander mumbled to himself.

*****

Shinji lay on his bed staring blankly at the ceiling, lamenting on this less-than upright day. Misato hadn't spoken to him since what happened down at the car. She didn't even bother having a beer.

_'She was really angry… but I can't help Asuka. She doesn't want my help; she'd just push me away again. Why do I make everyone so upset?'_

Visions flew past his eyes of the countless times he let people down.

Asuka sitting in quarantine after the 15th Angel.

_'I wanted to help but Father wouldn't let me.'_

Misato crying as she listened to Kaji's last message.

_'I wanted to help but I wouldn't understand.'_

Toji in the hospital after the Unit 03 was destroyed.

_'I wanted to help but Father made me do it.'_

Unit 00 self-destructing right in front of him.

_'I wanted to help but I was too late.'_

He had failed everyone that meant anything to him and they all hated him for it. Asuka had admitted it after the 15th Angel. Misato had told him he deserved it tonight and Rei had hardly spoken to him since the 16th. Kensuke and Toji never even said goodbye before they left and his father had been less then impressed with his unwillingness to kill the last Angel.

"Kawrou…I…I loved you too."

Tears began to flow from the Shinji's eyes as he remembered the gray-haired boy's confession to him. He was the only one who had ever said those words to him before. It was likely even Kawrou hated him too, just like everyone else.

_'And what I did early…Why did I do that? How could I do that to Asuka? I'm a monster. Asuka should hate me.'_

Asuka, _"I hate you!"_

_'I deserve it.'_

Misato, _"You deserve to be hated!"_

_'I'm a pathetic pervert.'_

Father, _"You disappoint me!"_

_'With the Angels gone I'm no longer needed.'_ He went on. '_I've done__ what everyone wanted and now they'll tell me to leave because they only wanted me here while I was piloting. Nobody cares about me.'_

How to solve this problem? How to make it all go away? How to make everyone happy again?

_'Maybe…I should leave so that everyone can forget about me.'_

The boy rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands before rolling over and wrapping his arms around his pillow. He tossed and turned for the rest of the night and sleep never came to the deeply troubled young boy. By the time the sun began to rise over Tokyo 3, Shinji had decided what he must do to fix all the things he messed up.

*****

The morning sun shone over the Tokyo 3 landscape. The sounds of construction echoed throughout the city as work continued on the reconstruction effort. A lone figure wandered the streets deep in thought.

'_A city, Tokyo 3… partially destroyed by the Angels during their search for the father…now man tries to replace what has been taken away._'

Rei stopped and stared at a group of construction workers as they were given their orders.

'_Man seeks to replace all that has been taken away. Just like the…Commander. Am I just a replacement for what he originally had? No, I am more to him then the replacement of his wife, but what is my purpose?_'

Rei gazed at a weapons building used to quickly provide the Evas with artillery during battle.

'_I can no longer pilot Eva. Pilot Soryu can no longer pilot Eva. Ikari…he is the only one who can pilot Eva._'

Rei turned to look at the cloudless sky.

'_What of my other purpose? I can no longer fulfil it now that the Angels have returned. Do I still have a purpose? Do I have any purpose like a normal person has? What happens to those who have no purpose?_'

An image of Shinji forms in Rei's head. It's an image from when he came to visit her in the hospital. 

'_Perhaps Ikari can provide me with a purpose…But what does Ikari mean to me? What did my other self see in Ikari that would make her sacrifice her own being just to protect him?_'

With that Rei turned around and began to walk away with toward a place where she hoped to answer her questions about the Third Child.

*****

Misato sat tapping on the keys of the computer board. She gently put the board on the ground and took off her jacket. It was hot in the confined space below the MAGI. She picked the board back up and continued typing. 

'_There has to be some information on why there are more Angels. What are they hiding from me – hell, from all of us – now?_'

After a few minutes she reached into her pocket and pulled out a red and white capsule. She unscrewed the two halves and slipped the microchip into her free hand. She then loaded it into the computer and continued her search for the truth. 

In the Security Control Centre, a Section 2 agent smiled as the tracing program started up. 

*****

The surface of the third Ashino Lake rippled slightly. Shinji sat on a nearby log staring at his hands, which sat in his lap. A razor blade sat loosely in the palm of his right hand.  

"This is for the best. Everyone will be happier this way." The way he spoke, he was completely sure of his words. "All I do is make everyone angry." 

A single tear ran down Shinji's check and landed on his wrist. He stared at where the tear had hit, right on a blue vein that could easily be seen through the boy's skin. It was like it wanted to be found. The Third Child slowly placed the blade between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand and moved it so it hovered above his left wrist. 

"I could never look into her eyes again after what I did. I used her. She may have been mean to me all the time but she didn't deserve that. I took advantage of her when she was weak. What sort of monster am I?"

Another tear ran down the boy's check as he felt a sharp pain as he dug the blade into the side of his wrist in preparation to slit the wrist all the way across.

"Misato was right; I do deserve to be hated. But I'm going to fix that and make everyone happy and…"

_SNAP_

Shinji span around to see Rei Ayanami standing behind him, staring at him blankly. Her eyes widened slightly as she seen the blade sticking into his wrist. She had come to the lake to think about the boy and her previous self's feelings for him when she noticed him siting on a log. 

"Ikari, what are you doing?" Rei asked softly. 

"Rei…I…I'm…I'm sorry."

He quickly turned his focus back to what he had come to do and ran the blade through his soft flesh across his wrist. Blood began to ooze out of the wound and quickly spread over his wrist before beginning to run down his arm and onto the ground below. 

As he attempted to do the same to his second wrist Rei closed the distance between them and grasped his arm. He looked at her with confusion evident in his tear stained eyes. 

"Why have you done this?" Rei asked, her eyes never leaving his.

"Everyone hates me. I'm just trying to make them happy," He replied, breaking their eye contact by looking back to his bleeding wrist.

Rei reached out to rip his shirt, "let me help you."

Shinji reeled back from her touch and feel backwards. "Don't, you hate me! I know you hate me!"

Rei straightened up and stared at the shivering boy below her. 

"She didn't hate you, Ikari. I think she…Pilot Sohryu, cared for you."

At the mention of her name, and the realization that in all actuality, she was kinder to him than to any other male on the planet, he began to cry harder, full of regret for what he had just done. He wanted to live.

"I…I…" he stuttered, fighting back the pain and trying to find his voice. "Please help me…I-I don't want to die!"

Rei leaned down next to the boy and ripped the sleeves of his school shirt before applying them to his bleeding wrist. She looked into the boy's eyes as he stared at her and a touch of sadness hit her.

"Ikari, what have you done?"

His eyes rolled back into his skull and he passed out from blood loss.

*****

Misato nearly jumped when the screen of her computer went completely white. She stared in disbelief as the screen changed to black then a counter came up.

_ETA – 5 seconds_

Misato raised an eyebrow then as the counter reached three she began to hear heavy footsteps coming toward her position. 

"Shit."

By the time she got up the timer was on two, she quickly grabbed the microchip and began to run when the counter hit 0 and two Section 2 agents rounded the corner and came to a halt in front of her.

"Major Katsuragi, Commander Ikari wishes to speak with you," one of the agents told her in a formal tone.

Misato slowly took her pistol from its holster and placed it on the ground. She then kicked it towards the agents.

"Thank you. If you'll come with us, please."

As Misato followed the agents she began to think of what the Commander would do to her as punishment. The Major just shook her head and kept walking toward her judgement. 

When they reached the Commander's office the two agents stepped back. The Major sighed and reached for the door handle. Her hand hovered above the handle for several seconds before she finally worked up the courage to open the door, knowing full well that she may not becoming back out alive. 

The walk across the large office did nothing to sooth Misato's growing nervousness. If anything it only made it worse that she must cover so much ground while under the stare of Commander Ikari. When she reached his desk he didn't even bother to acknowledge her presence for several minutes. 

"What is it that you're searching for, Major?" 

Misato was taken aback, '_What it is that you're hiding from me, you arrogant bastard,_' she thought.

"The truth, sir."

"Do you want me to tell you how Agent Kaji died?" Gendo asked coldly, "I could tell you the truth." 

Anger flashed in Misato's eyes and she took a step toward the desk.

"It would be unwise to come any closer Major. Unless, of course, you want to share the same fate as Agent Kaji."

Gendo waited for the Major to hold her position before continuing.

"Searching for the truth was Agent Kaji's specialty. It was also what led him to his early grave. There is only one reason you were not shot on sight…"

A long, eerie silence descended on the room until Misato couldn't take it anymore.

"Why?" she asked. Everything that she did at NERV could easily be done by someone else. 

"The Third Child is not in a good mental condition and the disappearance of his guardian would not be taken well."

Misato could no longer hold the Commander's gaze and she lowered her eyes to the floor. She knew that he was upset but she had dealt with it the wrong way. She had hit him.****

_'He must think I'm such a bitch...' _Misato thought.

"But he won't even talk to me. I'm horrible to him."

"Then I would suggest you find a remedy for that quickly."

Misato looked up at the Commander, surprised, "W-what do you mean, sir?"

"Should something happen to the Third Child there will no longer be a use for you. People who have no use to this organization or me find themselves in a very awkward situation. Do we reach an understanding, Major?"

Misato couldn't help but to shiver in fear in both the coldness of the Commander's voice, and the truthfulness of the threat. "Yes, sir." 

"Dismissed!"

Misato bowed quickly and walked out of the room. When she closed the doors she realized that the Intelligence Agents were gone and her gun sat in the middle of the hallway. She leaned on the wall behind her as the emotions brought on by the meeting came to the surface and she slowly slid down the wall before she started sobbing into her knees. 

"What am I going to now…? I'm sorry, Shinji. I'm the one who deserves to be hated..."

From where she was positioned she only barely made out the ringing of the phone from within the Commander's office. 

*****

The light in the room was blinding as the boy opened his eyes. He quickly shut them again and waited. The beeps of hospital equipment were the only sounds in the room except for the boy's shallow breathing. Slowly the boy opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. 

_WHOOSH_

Shinji nearly jumped as the curtains closed before he could look around. His eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't make anything out as his eyes attempted to adjust to the sudden change in light. Someone was in the room and he had no idea who or what they wanted. 

_CLICK_

The sound of the door being locked caused him to try to back up against the back of the bed; however, something cold held him to the frame of the bed and kept him in place. He began to shake his wrists but the handcuffs held him firmly in place. He looked at where his wrists would be helplessly.

"A precaution to ensure you didn't try to kill yourself…again," a cold voice answered Shinji's unasked question.

Shinji's eyes began to make out a dark figure seated in the corner of the room near the window, a figure who could barely be made out due to the darkness of his clothing and his position on the other side of the room. 

"Who…who are you?"

"Didn't anyone tell you that to kill yourself you had to cut along the vein?"

Shinji's jaw dropped but it wasn't from the information he had been given. He knew the voice that was speaking to him. 

"Father...?"

"Just when you gained some respect for destroying the seventeenth, you went and threw that all away with this." His father's voice was laced with venom and rancor.

"Father, what are you talking about?" 

"You're pathetic! What would the Second say if she found out how weak you are? That you were so weak that you attempted to kill yourself?" 

Shinji nearly choked. He looked away from the figure. "Asuka…already knows I'm weak. And if she didn't hate me before, she has every right to now."

A short pause followed before his father spoke again.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"When you betrayed her, did it feel good?"

Shinji choked up.

"I…shouldn't have done it…I wish I hadn't…I wanted to kill myself to make sure I never used anyone like that," Shinji looked up at the figure across the room. "I don't ever want to be like you."

"And how did running away and trying to killing yourself help you do that?"

"That way I couldn't use anyone again."

"So you would leave them all to die then? Would that be better?"

"What…what are you talking about, Father? Why will they die?" Shinji asked frantically.

"The Angels are coming back and we are currently defenseless without a pilot for Unit 01. Will you abandon everyone and leave them to die?"

"Why is there a new pilot coming?"

"Don't avoid the question. Will you leave them to die? Rei, Major Katsuragi, the Second. Do you hate them so much as to do that to them?"

"I don't hate them. They hate me…They all do."

"None of them hate you, not even the Second. If all you're going to do is sit around and think that everyone hates then you might as well go back to the lake and do it properly this time." 

The figure rose from his chair and began to head for the door.

"Father?"

"A nurse will be here soon to release you. Don't forget what I said. Always remember what is important to _you_."

With that, he left the room and left Shinji to think about the three most important people in his life. 

*****

Later the next day, in a different room, Shinji sat next the bed of Asuka Langley Soryu, the Second Child. The nurses had brought in a chair for him to sit on after they explained that most of the people in the hospital don't get visitors that often.

He looked at her sleeping form with shame in his eyes as he thought about what he had done last time he was in the room. Nothing could make up for what he did. He knew he had to say something. He decided to just say what came into his head.

"I'll be here for you, Asuka. I promise that when you need me I'll be there to help. Not because just because I want to make up for what I've done to you but because I…"

Shinji paused as he tried to say the words that he wanted to say. She was comatose, but even then, it was hard to admit it to her still form. It was even harder to admit it to himself. 

"I care about you. Even if you hate me…I'll be here for you."

And with those words, he looked at her closed eyes, placing his hand on hers. At the feeling of her skin, he felt a deep feeling that he could only describe as wanting to protect her. It made his next words truer than anything he had ever said before. 

"I promise."

Shinji then pulled his SDAT player from his pocket and plugged in the earphones. He sat there in the room next to her for the rest of the day and knew that he would spend most of the next day in the same spot, and many more days after that.

*****

Next Chapter

*****

In the next chapter, _The New Arrival_, the Sixth Child and the newly built Unit 06 arrive at NERV and are put on active duty. How will Shinji react to the return of his friends, the start of school and a new child who seems to have known Asuka in Germany? 

Due to popular demand, well, Xenogears15 said he wanted it, you get fan service too. Well, how about an omake? I don't think there's anything else I can offer you. Yeah, I'll do an omake for the next chapter. 

*****

Author's Notes

*****

There you have a rewritten and, in my opinion, a much better version of the first chapter. That's it! I'm not rewriting this again because I'm happy with it for now and it can stay like this, at least, until I finish the entire story. I've got my base now and I'm running with it.

I'd like to thank my two editors:

Xenogears15, and

HK2-Eviscerator

You guys are great and thanks for putting up with my crap. Sorry about not sending you anything for, like, a month… or two.

If anyone thinks this goes against the canon, it doesn't really. Sure, it carries on from a series that was never meant to be extended but there are no _new_ Angels in this. All I'm doing is bringing back the originals in different, _reincarnated_ forms. If you still think this is against canon, that's your opinion. 

All comments and criticisms can be sent to: indeptheva@hotmail.com

Thanx,

Marzee


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